


Binky's Demise

by amazemerlinmagi



Series: Harry Potter W.I.P [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Apologies, Attempt at Humor, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Based on a Dream, Bisexual Harry Potter, Book 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Consequences, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Cute Harry Potter, Drama, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Romance, Fluff, I should know i am one, M/M, Makeover, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Alternating, Slice of Life, Soft Harry Potter, Teen Romance, Teenage Drama, Teenage Girls are Complicated
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:01:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25743997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amazemerlinmagi/pseuds/amazemerlinmagi
Summary: Harry gets introduced to the world of teenage drama.That's it. That's the story.Aka teenage girls are dramatic.(The timeline is probably messed up but it's still the third year and the Prisoner of Azkaban! Just the order of some events is mixed around.)
Relationships: Harry Potter & Blaise Zabini, Harry Potter/Blaise Zabini, Lavender Brown & Harry Potter, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Series: Harry Potter W.I.P [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1868320
Comments: 11
Kudos: 109





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so this came to me in a dream. Sporadic updates because I only get inspiration at like 2 am in the morning. And it's Blaise/Harry because he's the only character I can remember who is black and he never gets a full-fleshed out personality and all that's mentioned is that his mom is a black widow which is... not the greatest. I just want some nice black representation. Why? Because I am black. 
> 
> I also kind of don't remember the third book and I refuse to support J.K. Rowling anymore so I refuse to buy them so I may or may not be reading of a PDF to remind myself. But I already have some plot points laid out from my dream but it's still the 3rd book and will have all the major events. Just probably in a different order and some points changed around. 
> 
> Ravenclaw will pay for what they did to Luna. Also, Sirius will eventually get out too because I love him. Look out for Harry's makeover. I highkey just wanted an excuse to make a soft boy Harry. Cute nerd chic. Even if he's not a nerd.

"Oh my God! She's such a bitch. Like she's such a bitch!"

Harry whipped around in shock to the direction of the shrieking. He had been minding his own business in the library trying to last-minute finish his Potion's essay when his panicking had been interrupted by the cries from a witch. 

They had come from Lavander Brown he found out. He was facing her and found her in a state he normally didn't see her in. Her face was bright red and scrunched in a weird way as she gazed at something in her hands. He found she was tightly gripping a piece of parchment. He was staring at her rather intensely in shock when she looked up and looked right at him, making _eye contact._

"What," she exclaimed, with a scary look in her eyes. It scared even Harry, and he had fought _basilisk_. "You're going to make fun of me too?"

Harry scrambled for an answer. "Umm. No. I mean. I was just trying to figure out what the commotion was. Just doing my homework. Don't mind me." 

Lavender looked at him clearly not impressed. She levied him for a long time before shaking her head and returning to reading whatever was on that parchment. Harry too then sighed, grateful he didn't feel the wrath of the true terror. _Teenage girls_. They're already complicated enough when they're adults with their double meaning. But chock filled with hormones and surrounded by a bunch of people also running on hormones and adrenaline was a recipe for disaster. Harry was virtually isolated when he was younger from all social interaction. He was recently getting better but the only girl his age he had interaction with was Hermonie and she wasn't really what you can call a typical girl.

"Say, Potter," said Lavender, distracting Harry from his thoughts on the complexity of teenage girls. He looked at her and found her staring at her with a wicked smile on her face. Different from her former face, it wasn't as red and wasn't filled with pure rage which would have filled Harry with relief if only it wasn't filled with a different emotion. Revenge.

"U-uh yes?" he managed to stammer out. 

Lavender got out of her seat from the table next to Harry and pulled out the chair right next to his and sat right into it. Harry was taken aback as she turned her body right towards him. She batted her eyelashes him and he couldn't help but notice that she did have rather pretty eyes. She opened her mouth and said, "I distinctly remember you having quite a lot of experience with snakes if I remember."

Harry couldn't help but cry a little inside. This is what it was about. The reveal that he could talk to snakes wasn't taken very well by the student population of Hogwarts. In fact, the fact that he was a Parselmouth made everyone quite afraid of him for the better part of the second year. He really didn't know how they snapped out of it. Or even if they _did_ snap out of it. He had sort of repressed the memories of the second year you see. Weren't very nice memories.

Anyways, back to his current dilemma. His brain was moving a mile a minute as he pondered whatever Lavender would do to him. Would she swear at him like she did at the parchment? Which he was beginning to think was a letter from someone given that she referred to a she. Or she does even worse and hex him? Those both seemed like perfectly viable options to him. After all, he had quite an experience with Hogwarts' mood swings.

"Potter," he snapped out of his overthinking, "since you have such a valuable experience with talking to snakes. How would you feel about taking down a snake?" She asked with such sincerity in her voice that if Harry wasn't so utterly perplexed, he probably would have agreed to whatever she was proposing.

He replies with the amount of eloquence that a socially awkward teenage boy can reply with.

"Sure?"

* * *

Harry was kind of confused. Scratch that. He was _very_ confused. 

He had just been dragged out of what was quite possibly the weirdest conversation of his life.

After Lavender practically manhandled him into finishing his Potion's essay as quickly as possible. He never knew the girl had it in her to write so quickly, she always seemed so giggly in her gossiping corner with Parvati. Then again, he really didn't know much about the girl at all. She never really came up in the conversations. Sure she shared a dorm with Hermoine but she was rather... different than the other girls and they weren't really friends at all. Hermione sure never mentioned anything about Lavender.

He really couldn't blame Hermione for not preparing him though. He never really paid attention to Lavender at all either. All he really knew is that she was a Gryffindor, best friends with Parvati Padmil, very gossipy, and he shares both of his electives with her. Wait, he shared both of his electives with her. He really should pay more attention to his housemates.

Regardless, Harry was currently trying to figure out what he had just gotten himself into. All he knew is that it involved bones. He really should have been paying more attention to whatever she was spouting before she dragged him off to come with to who knows where but he was busy trying to figure out if she knew he had faced a bloody basilisk last year or was she being metaphorical. Was that the right word to use in this situation? Who cares, he might die. Bones. BONES!

"Anyways, Bones and I have been having this feud going on for ages," Lavender continued droning on while making particular aggressive hand movements while talking. Harry did a double-take. "And honestly Hufflepuffs!" she yelled. "You think they're all meek and quiet but no, they're downright mean. And they're loyalty just makes it even worse. Given that Bones is the unofficial leader of the third year Hufflepuff girls it's Hufflepuff vs Gryffindor and we're not going down without a fight."

Harry took a deep breath in and did something that he was sure he was going to regret but he had to make sure. "Um, Lavender," he asked. She stopped and turned right at him, looking at him for the first time since she began her rant. "That's terrible and all but what exactly do you want _me_ ," he gestured to himself, "to do about this." 

She smiled at him again, which distinctly reminded him of a character he saw on the television once while the Dursley's weren't paying attention to him. The name of the cartoon was Alice in Wonderland and the character was the Chesire Cat.

"Why Harry," she began, "I want you to help me win the war."

(Looking back on it Harry should have realized that maybe Lavender was being a touch dramatic)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is from Hermione's POV after Harry has just been accosted by Lavender and she notices he has been a little different lately.

Hermione noticed that Harry has been a little different nowadays. 

It all started when he was reminded that he hadn't finished his Potion's essay which was due the day after and rushed to the library during lunch on Sunday. Why he chose to do it then she had no idea. 

Normally nobody was at the library during lunch because it's well... lunch. Nobody wants to miss out on lunch. So it should be fine, there should have been no one to distract Harry with his endeavors in finishing his essay but he came out not quite the same as he went in. He came out a little shaken. Like he had just been given a big fright and honestly that worried Hermione. Because the Harry she knew didn't get frightened. At least, that's what she thought.

And who could blame her? The first time she really met Harry had been after she stuck his wand up a troll's nose to save her. And that was in the first year. In the second year, he went to save Ginny from a basilisk bringing only Lockhart, the fraud, and Ron. And after those two had both been incapacitated, he took it in stride and faced it all by himself. 

The only real thing she knew he was frightened of was Dementors. But he can't help it. And she's pretty sure he didn't encounter any Dementors in the library if the Hogwarts rumor mill was to be believed. Because she'd heard nothing about it. Granted her access to the rumor mill was Lavender Brown loudly complaining about it in their shared room. Recently she hadn't heard much about Lavender except for some moans about Hufflepuffs but honestly, that was plain ridiculous, Hufflepuffs were the least of her worries.

Anyways, Lavender was unimportant at this time. What really was important was finishing all her homework because she has so much work to do with her electives. And finding out what was wrong with Harry. 

Given that she didn't have that much time with all her electives, it might be a little hard to accomplish her mission at the time but Hermionie was very persistent.

She will get to the bottom of the mystery of whatever Harry's problem was.

* * *

Binky.

That was the name of Harry's terrorizer. 

He loves animals. He really does. And while he wasn't Hagrid level crazy about animals, he could enjoy a good snuggle. At least he was lucky that Lavender didn't have Hagrid's tendencies of naming fearsome things cutesy names. Binky was a perfectly adorable rabbit thank you very much. 

Keyword: was

Binky was dead. Now that he remembered Binky had been one of Trelenway's predicted deaths in Divination. Then again, Trelenway always predicted his death and he was still standing here. But hey, a fraud is always right once in a while. 

Anyways, the key point is that Harry now knew Binky when she was dead more than when she was alive. 

  * She went bananas for her pellet food. (She also went bananas for bananas). She has the perfect mix of herbal stuff with the regular hay pellets to make it _extra_ special. 
  * Affection is something she deeply craves. She has a few sensitive spots, namely her whiskers and her tail. But her absolute FAVORITE spot is right under the chin. (After further research it is called a dewlap)
  * She was just a baby Holland Lop. So much life left to live. Totally unexpected that she died.
  * and much much more



Harry would not like to admit it himself but he had become quite fond of the little bunny. Also, there had been pictures shoved in his face and he had been told of how cute the bunny was. Worship his grace Binky. Quite probable he developed Stockholm Syndrome to like the little bunny.

When Harry had first heard of dealing with a snake, he had thought the worse. But when Lavender mentioned a snake she didn't mention a basilisk. She didn't even mention a Slytherin! What she meant was dealing with the snub socially that Susan Bones and the Hufflepuff girls had just done to her.

Apparently the parchment paper _was_ a letter. A quite mean letter in fact. From the Hufflepuff girls. Mostly Susan Bones. And how they wouldn't be attending the funeral for Binky. 

You may be asking yourself "well how did Harry learn of these facts about Binky and the letter from Susan Bones?" Why thank you for asking. He learned this all in Gryffindor's Common Room where Lavender had dragged Harry to hear all these facts along with filling in Kellah and Fay. The two Gryffindors weren't quite as close to Lavender as Parvati was but even they understood the importance of them rejecting the kindly-worded invitation to Binky's funeral.

"I never knew Bones could be so rude," said Fay as she sat cross-legged on the ground next to the stuffed couch that Parvati and Kellah were sitting on. Harry was beside her, closer to the fireplace while Lavender was in the girls' room, searching for more pictures of Binky to grace them with. 

Parvati was showing all of them the letter. "Ridiculous," she agreed, "maybe if they worded the letter better I would forgive them for maybe not feeling up to talking about it but really they didn't even say no thank you."

"That's common courtesy," Kellah replied. She was hugging a pillow and was shaking her head like what she was hearing was the most major faux pas of the century. And to three new teenagers, it probably was. 

Harry was still quite confused about why exactly he had been dragged into this mess. He's pretty sure it had something to do with his hair. It was very messy. From what he gathered about this group of girls, they were very into making everybody and everything presentable. Which is why they were treating that letter so seriously. To those girls who cared about everything right and proper, that very not proper letter was a declaration of war on their island of peace that had already been disturbed greatly by Binky's death.

War on Gryffindor's probably wasn't there best idea. Because they somehow managed to drag Harry into it. 

Harry was very good at finding and solving trouble.


	3. Chapter 3

The Hufflepuff dormitories weren't actually that hard to find.

Of course, it wasn't like Harry had thought about it before but it was simple to find. 

All he had to do to find it was to follow some Hufflepuffs under his invisibility cloak and hear the password. Ok, he had been lucky. He decided to follow a couple of first years and one of them got the password wrong at first and the other had loudly proclaimed that they had gotten the rhythm of Helga Hufflepuff wrong. Then he waltzed up to the barrel and also got the rhythm wrong. 

Then the first year had gotten offended and proceeded to go on a rant about how unpractical it was to have the password be that and on a specific barrel too. They both then proceeded to get the password wrong and get drenched in vinegar. It was quite funny actually. Also gave Harry a warning of what would happen if he got the password wrong. They eventually got in though and that was that.

Simple work really.

Oh right. Time to explain the plan

So after the girls had started to complain about the Hufflepuff's rude refusal of the invitation to Binky's funeral, they started to plan their revenge. Given that they were third-year girls, their revenge consisted of dyeing the Hufflepuff's girl an obnoxious color. Lavender had said that they should die their hair pink with yellow polka dots. Harry agreed that that would be not quite a good mental image and additionally suggest they do the same thing but with pink and lime green. 

All the girls had looked at him like he was a genius and patted him on the back. He'd gotten a promise from them that after they got their revenge, they would give him a makeover in Hogsmeade. 

He mentioned the fact that he couldn't go to Hogsmeade because he didn't have the permission papers but the girls just looked at him unimpressed and said just to forge it. He said he would.

Maybe he was getting a little corrupted. 

But that's beside the point. The point is that while the girls researched how to make the right potion because the Color Change charm was way above their level, Harry had to find out where the Hufflepuff dormitory was and the current password and continuous updates on the password was. Well, it was nice to know he didn't need to continually update them at least.

When asked why it was his job to find where it is, the girls had given him _another_ unimpressed stare.

"Come on Harry," said Fey while rolling her eyes, "Everyone knows you had something to do with finding out where the Chamber of Secrets was."

The girls around her nodded.

"W-what. How?" he asked while twiddling his fingers. He hadn't told anybody other than Ron and Hermione about what happened. Were they seers or something?

All the girls were quiet for a moment before beginning to laugh. Hard.

Lavender wiped the tears from her eyes. "Did you really think we _wouldn't_ interrogate Ginny on everything that happened."

"She was quite resilient," continued Parvati, "Only told us a little bit about what happened."

Harry looked around at all of them. Had he underestimated the Hogwarts gossip mill? "Which was...?"

Kellah spoke up for the first time in a while. "If she is to be trusted, some spirit thing had been possessing her and taken her to the Chamber of Secrets trying to kill her. Which is weird really because she's a pureblood but that's beside the point. Anyways she was dying and you came there and saved her from the spirit."

The girls nodded. "And," Lavender added on, "she said that you weren't the evil person we were all making you out to be. Because, well, you saved her and she pointed out that your best friend had been petrified too and that _maybe_ we were overreacting that you were evil just because you can speak Parseltongue and just kind of an introvert. And the only reason you probably spoke Parseltongue is that you we're trying to keep the snake away. Also, we really should've known you weren't the Heir of Slytherin because you're in Gryffindor and because you're a half-blood yourself. And that mayb--"

"What she's trying to say," Parvati cut her off, "is that we're sorry for isolating you. And that we know it wasn't you who was petrifying people and was that evil spirit. And we're sorry we misjudged you. Just because you speak Parseltongue doesn't mean you're evil" She looked around at the rest of the girls. "Right?"

They all mumbled some form of yes while looking at him guiltily.

Harry was shocked. He knew that everybody seemed to be acting normal and different from how they were last year, but it never really struck him about maybe they felt guilty. He started to tear up a little bit looking at all the faces of true regret and apology looking at him. The Dursely's had never apologized to him. This was kind of unusual.

The girls noticed he was tearing up a little bit and Parvati tentatively got off of the couch she was sitting on and wrapped her arms around him. The rest of the girls followed suit and he was surrounded by a bunch of girls hugging him while he softly cried.

It was nice he noticed. They were nice. And after he got all the mushy stuff out of the way, Harry brought up the fact they should invite Hermione to the funeral too. When he got some incredulous looks, he mentioned that she had gotten better about being kind of overbearing and that maybe they shouldn't judge someone without knowing all the facts and getting to know them. They looked at him thoughtfully and agreed.

All in all, it was a pretty successful meeting and he thinks he's gained some friends. Now all he had to do was go back to the Gryffindor dorm and report back to the girls about what he's found.

As he rounded the corner in the basements, he found himself drifting, thinking about the previous events when he suddenly bumped into something hard and found himself sprawled on the floor. 

He looked up and found himself looking straight at a boy. He was tall for his age, slim, and had deep brown skin. He couldn't make out the look on his face because his glasses had been knocked off but he imagined it was filled with shock. He also had a green and silver tie which was just great.

"Potter?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a little bad at dialogue and long conversations but I enjoyed writing it! Finally, we have Blaise and I think Harry has a little bit of a crush.

"What are you doing here?" he held out his hand. "Are you okay and is that an invisibility cloak?"

Harry stared at the hand suspiciously before slowly taken it and allowing himself to be pulled up. Harry was impressed that he had been able to pull him up so easily.

He squinted his eyes in the dark lighting of the dungeons and put his hands to where his missing glasses would be.

"Oh let me get those for you," said the Slytherin. He bent down onto the floor to get what he assumed were his glasses. He then slowly put them on Harry.

Harry's world cleared up and he found himself faced with a handsome boy with a large smile on his face. He was kind struck looking at him in a daze when the boy patted his shoulder.

"You okay Potter? Need me to take you to Madam Pomfrey. Oh, I'm so sorry. Wasn't looking where I was going." 

"No, it's okay," Harry managed to stammer out, "I was the one under the invisibility cloak."

The boy managed to smile even brighter. "You were weren't you," he said. "also I think you might want to invest in some better glasses. Those ones look like they've seen better days."

"I mean," Harry started, "I don't really know where to get them from. I can't really go out and buy them so..."

The boy bent down and started gathering the books that had fallen from his hands when he bumped into Harry. "Potter. You seem to have forgotten that this year is the year we can go to Hogsmeade's. Great place."

"I can't really go..."

"Really," the boy looked up as he put his books into a bag, "why not?"

Harry played with his fingers while avoiding looking at the boy. "Well, my aunt and uncle forgot to sign my forms so I can't go on Halloween." He made a sad expression.

"Well this simply won't do," the boy hopped off the ground. "Hogsmeade is the only time we can get out and explore outside of this castle. It's great and all but it can get a little overbearing. Just forge it."

Harry looked at him with a slight smile of amusement on his face. "You're the second person to tell me this. But I've been thinking it over and it won't really work out that well. I mean how would I convince McGonagall. I'm not really the best at forging and I already told her my uncle and aunt forgot to sign it. They're Muggles you see. Don't really know how everything works. And they aren't exactly the most welcoming to talking about Hogwarts"

The boy shook his head and tsked. "Now this," he gestured to Harry, "is why you're not in Slytherin. All you need to do is owl them under the guise of having them sign it and forge the signature."

"But it won't really work because she'll probably see that an owl never came to me in the morning with the letter," Harry countered.

"Ok," the boy clapped his hands, "Here's what you're going to do. You're going to forge the signature and give it to your owl. Then tell her to give it to you in the morning. They're smarter than you'd think."

Harry nodded thinking of Hedwig. "Yes, Hedwig is really smart."

"Oo Hedwig. I like that name."

Harry blushed. "Thanks," he mumbled.

The boy smiled again. "Anyways, then, all you need to do is give it to McGonagall and explain to her how you owled them and surprisingly they gave their permission. Be convincing about it. Pretend you just caught the snitch or something and smile a lot. At that moment you have successfully gotten yourself a trip to Hogsmeade."

"Wow," Harry said, "that plan's really brilliant. Only problem is I can't really forge stuff well."

"Well that's simple," he said, "I'll do it for you. Just get me the slip and you're aunt and uncle's name and I'll sign a perfect signature for you."

Harry was taken aback. "Um sure? Do you want to come with me to get it or...?"

"Sure!" the boy smiled brightly and off they were to get Harry to Hogsmeade. 

On the way there Harry learned the boy's name was Blaise Zabini and he was very friendly for a Slytherin. Then again, Harry only had interactions with Malfoy and his gang of blood supremacists. It was surprising to learn that there were some good Slytherins. 

Blaise seemed to notice that Harry was kind of uncomfortable around Slytherins and talked about how it was so unfortunate that Malfoy targeted him. He explained that Malfoy had been raised a little more extremely pro pureblood then most purebloods. They don't all think that Muggles and Muggleborns were the worst things in the world. In fact, they felt that Muggle-borns were perfectly fine, just a little ignorant.

"When I'm out of Hogwarts, I'm getting on the Board of Directors and Ministry and going to set up an anti-discrimination thing in Hogwarts and the Ministry. It's ridiculous how they are targeted against and how people like Malfoy and his gang are raised thinking they're so much better. Look at your friend Hermione. She's really smart and she's Muggle-born. You got attacked by a Hippogriff because you thought you were so much better than them. I mean, I'm arrogant, but I'm not _that_ arrogant." Blaise ranted as he moved his hands dramatically. 

Harry nodded and decided right then that he rather liked Blaise.

He also learned that Blaise took great care of his appearance greatly and by the time Harry got to the Gryffindor dorm and got out his permission slip from his trunk for Blase to sign.

"There you go," Blaise said as he handed back the newly signed permission slip.

Harry looked down at it. "Wicked," he said in awe, "it looks like a real adult's signature."

Blaise looked at him depressedly. "Trust me," he said, "I have _a lot_ of experience writing names and things on wedding invitations."

"I can tell. You're handwriting is really good. I've never been good with a quill."

They continued talking about the right way to hold a quill when they were interrupted by Lavander and the rest of the girls giggling and making their way to the portrait. 

"Harry," Lavander said while waving her hand excitedly and running up to him, "we found the ingredients to the potion. All we need to do is go to the Aportheracy in Hogsmeade and get them. You did solve your Hogsmeade problem right?" 

"Um yeah," Harry said slowly,"I did. Zabini was really helpful."

"Oh please Potter," Blaise interrupted, "Call me Blaise."

Harry smiled and looked at him. "Well, then you can call me Harry."

"Ok Harry," said Blaise while smiling and looking at him in a way that made Harry blush and feel butterflies in his stomach.

Lavender and Parvati linked arms with Harry on either side.

"Harry has something we need for him to do so we're going to have to steal him from you," said Parvati.

"Yes very important business," continued Lavender.

They said the password to the common room and Harry could only look at Blaise apologetically while the portrait closed. He saw Blaise waving and waved back.

"Was that just Blaise Zabini," asked Fay as they settled into their usual couch and floor set up.

"Yes," said Kellah, "It was.'

"Since when did Harry know Blaise Zabini?"

"Since when did Harry know you guys?" said a new voice and Harry whipped around and came face to face with Ron Weasley. He'd been kind of busy with all the Hufflepuff spying and sort of hadn't been hanging out with him.

"Come on Harry," he grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him up slowly. He seemed to be dragged around lately. "Play chess with me. I feel like I haven't seen you in _ages._ "

So Harry turned around and told the girls he'd inform them of the potion situation tomorrow before breakfast and went off to play chess with Ron and catch up on anything he missed.

"So what was that all about with potions and Blaise Zabini?" asked Ron as he put Harry in check again. 

"Oh nothing important," he replied, barely dodging another checkmate. "Oh, you don't have to be mad anymore." 

Ron looked up. "About what?"

"Hogsmeade. I owled my relatives. Have a good feeling they might sign it."

Ron smiled really brightly. "Well, that's great. Can't wait to visit on Halloween."

"Yeah," Harry said, thinking of a nice guy with a bright smile. He blushed. "Me too."


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Off to Hogsmeade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, I started school so I wasn't able to write that much. I saw the comments and thank you for the kind words!!
> 
> (Edit: Reread it and fixed some grammar mistakes and reworded some dialogue)

Harry woke up Halloween morning feeling refreshed.

The plan had gone perfectly and he had been permitted to go to Hogsmeade.

Also, some certain Hufflepuffs were wearing a new do for the next week. Harry didn't feel too bad though. The Hufflepuff's we're mad at first but it wasn't like they were getting bullied or ostracized. In fact, they started sporting their new hair in stride even if it was an ugly color combination.

The girls were also happy to have gotten their revenge and they even took on his idea of befriending Hermione! Much to the confusion of herself but she seemed to like that her roommates we're becoming her friends.

He's noticed the bushy-haired girl eyeing him suspiciously though, which was worrying.

Ron and Hermione still seemed to be arguing about the matter about Crookshanks. Harry was just trying to stay neutral about it.

"Honestly, Ron. Just because you found blood on your sheets doesn't mean that it was my Crookshanks," Hermione said and took a sip of her drink.

Ron, as usual, took large bites of his pancake. "And you're supposed to be the smart one. That monster obviously ate my Scabbers."

Harry shook his head and went back to eating his food. It wouldn't do to get into the middle of the rather bad argument. At least they weren't in a screaming match yet.

"Hey, Harry."

He turned to see Lavender and Parvati linking arms and sitting next to him. 

"Hi Lavender. Hi Parvati." He smiled at them in a greeting.

Lavender glanced towards the two arguing students. "What are those two arguing about?"

"Ron thinks Hermione's cat ate his rat."

Lavender scrunched her face and looked at the redhead. "He has a rat?"

"Crookshanks?" asked Parvati, "he wouldn't do that. He's a big sweetheart."

Ron stopped his fork halfway and raised his eyebrow at Parvati. "Seriously. What is it with women and that cat?"

"Well for one he's pretty. Needs maybe a good brushing though. But otherwise, he has potential like Harry here." She put her hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Did you just compare me to a cat?"

Ron scoffed. "No mate she just called you ugly."

Lavender made an offended gasp. "No I didn't," she said and wrapped her arm around Harry's shoulder, "I said he had potential."

"What Lavender's trying to say is that we need to do something about your atrocious hair. I rather think you'd look good with longer hair and the bedhead look is good if only it would be detangled," Parvati added.

"Exactly," Lavender nodded, "and second he's half kneazle and I've never seen a half kneazl--"

"Wait what?" asked Hermione. She had been quiet for a while and listening to them talk. "Kneazle? As in the XXX class beast? The smart and aggressive ones?"

"Mhmm. I thought you of knew."

Hermione shook her head furiously. "No. I didn't. This changes everything."

"Not really. It still doesn't change the fact that it ate my rat." Ron said and aggressively stabbed at his pancakes.

"He is not an it."

Harry took another bite of his eggs and watched them continued to watch them argue. Today was the day when they visit Hogsmeade and he'd managed to convince Lavander, Parvati, Ron, and Hermione that they should explore together. They had decided to put aside their argument to have a nice first Hogsmeade visit and so they were using all their aggression early. 

Harry checked while thinking about it.

"Here Harry." 

He turned to see Lavander offering him some toast with jam spread on it.

"You need to eat some more. You're so skinny."

Parvati nudged her in the shoulder. "Hey, don't be rude."

"What?" she asked, "it's true. At least it's better than the beginning of the year when he's just skin and bones. And he's so small too."

It was true he guessed. He was smaller than most of the 3rd year boys and only taller than a few of the girls. But he wouldn't say he's skin and bones. 

He looked down at his wrist to inspect the size. "Am I really that skinny?"

"Oh Harry, she's just exaggerating. But you are a little small."

"Yeah mate you're kinda tiny."

Ron and Hermione glared at each other as they said things at the same time. Harry rolled his eyes as he felt another argument coming on but decided maybe he should do something about it.

"So where are we going to visit at Hogsmeade?" he asked. And then the rest of the breakfast was filled with all of them planning about what to do. 

By then end of breakfast, Harry had forgotten all about the conversation about his height and weight, but the rest of them sure hadn't. Hermione and Lavander shared glances from each other to him throughout the conversation.

* * *

  
_"Hogsmeade looked like a Christmas card; the little thatched cottages and shops were all covered in a layer of crisp snow; there were holly wreaths on the doors and strings of enchanted candles hanging in the trees."_

First order of buisness was going to Gladrags Wizardwear.

"Wow," whispered Hermione, "I didn't even there were so many different robe styles."

Harry had to agree with both of them. Gladrags Wizardwear wasn't like he expected. He expected it to just be a bunch of drab, black robes instead he found a world of multicolored long and short robes in different cuts and different shaped pointed hats.

"Of course there are different robe styles. You didn't expect all clothes to look like Hogwarts uniforms right?" Lavender responded while standing next to her.

Hermione blushed and looked away.

Parvati continued, "The Hogwarts uniform is not very modern. I think it's only changed once since the founding."

Lavender started lecturing, "It only changed when Dumbledore became Headmaster, and even then it only added buttons and made it have a more comfortable cut. You probably didn't see anything like this in Madam Malkins because she makes most of her money with Hogwarts robes and caters for more professional robes for low tier Ministry workers and probably some of the teachers too. Gladrags and Pettichaps have more color and modern options aimed at people our age and if you want more luxury clothing with some famous designers you go to Twilfitt and Tattings."

Hermione looked at her quizzically. "You know a lot about this." 

Parvati smirked. "Well of course she does. She's aiming to get her mastery in charms, marry rich, and open up her own store for clothing and beauty products. Anyways let's go find some clothes for you, Harry, and Ron."

Ron started stuttering, "I-i don't think I have enough money for all of this."

"Don’t worry Ron we'll pay for it," said Parvati.

"Yeah," continued Lavander, "consider it a gift from all of the Christmas presents we missed."

Harry watched as Ron's face lit up and told himself that he would pay for Ron's clothes rather than them. Even if he had spent a lit of time with Lavander and Parvati lately, Ron was still his best friend and he owed his family a lot.

Hermione pointed towards herself. "Me too?"

"Given your reaction, I'm guessing you only have those boring robes and hats at Madam Malkins. Don't worry, there's something in here for everybody" answered Lavander and she grabbed her hand and they were off to shop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You probably noticed that I'm writing a lot about Wizarding fashion and that's because of two reasons. One, I really like fashion and like the idea that there is more to robes than just the same cut and the occasional different color. And two, because Parvati and Lavender are described in the book as people who care a lot about the appearances and fashion and since I'm around a similar age to them and my friends are too, I'd imagine there are wizarding designers and there are a few clothing shops that are described.
> 
> Also, I'd imagine Hermione would only explore Madam Malkins and spend not that much money there to buy more books, so she's getting more of a makeover too.
> 
> Gladrags Wizardwear would cater to teens because they are right next to Hogwarts with a bunch of children


	6. Chapter 6

Harry felt like time stopped as he went from shop to shop. Exploring the world with friends was something that he really loved to do. 

He left with a bag full of sweets and a warm heart. 

When they started making their way back to Hogwarts, his mood dampened even though he remembered they’d come back again. But the Halloween feast was next. Harry always loved the Halloween feast.

_“It had been decorated with hundreds and hundreds of candles filled pumpkins, a cloud of fluttering live bats, and many flaming orange streamers, which were swimming lazily across the stormy ceiling like brilliant watersnakes.”_

Ron helped himself to another drumstick. “The Three Broomsticks really is filled with all kinds of sorts. Can you believe we saw an ogre? That was so cool. I’ve never seen one before.”

“Really?” asked Hermione,” But you’re from a wizarding family.”

Ron looked at her strangely. “So? Ogres are really rare.”

“Yeah Hermione, ogres are really rare to see in the modern world. They usually stay in their towns in the mountains,” added Lavender as she reached for another drumstick.

Hermione looked around at the group then tilted her head. “But I’ve never heard anything about that in any of the books I’ve read.”

“Well I guess not everything’s in your books,” said Parvati. “Nobody really writes about ogres because they’re so quiet and introverted. Like Harry here.” She rested her hand on his shoulder.

Lavender chuckled. “You’re wrong about that. Everybody writes about Harry.” 

Harry blushed. He remembers reading some of the stuff about him in books and they were...not very accurate.

Lavender turned to Harry. “That reminds me. Are you okay? You know with the Dementors. I heard what happened on the train. You even missed the Sorting because of that.”

Parvati groaned. “Ugh, the Dementors are terrible. When they came on the train, I just heard my screaming as I got chased by a mummy this summer. It was horrible. I’m never going back to Egypt. I almost got eaten.”

Ron pointed his fork at Parvati and did a big gulp of his food. “Wait, that was you?” He laughed. “I remember hearing about that.”

Harry looked at her too. “You went to Egypt too? How did a mummy end up chasing you?”

Parvati slowly started to describe her encounter, ”Well I had a fight with Padma and ran away while we were in a pyramid and I somehow ended up getting lost. And while I was trying to find my way back I stepped on this tile that triggered the passageways around me to be sealed with walls that appeared out of nowhere and the room started to slowly fill up with sand and then I started banging on the walls yelling for my family.”

Harry stopped eating and started to pay attention to Parvati. Maybe he wasn’t the only one who attracted danger in this place.

“Then I think I banged on something wrong or something because a mummy appeared out of nowhere on the other side of the room and jumped towards me and I tried kicking it but it just bit off a chunk of my shoe and I tried fighting back by stabbing it in the eye with a hairbrush and it just made angrier but it couldn’t do anything cause it started bleeding. Did you know mummy’s blood was black?”

He didn’t.

“And while it was distracted, I ran to the other side of the room screaming and it was slowly walking towards me and just when I thought I was about to die, my dad blasted through the wall and cursed it.” 

The entire Gryffindor stared at her with open mouths. Harry thought he heard Colin Creevery taking a picture. Lavender hugged her.

Ron for once didn’t have a piece of food in his mouth. “Bloody hell. That’s rough.” 

That broke the table out of their stupor and Parvati was suddenly bombarded with questions

“Are you sure you’re strong enough to make a mummy bleed?”

“Do you have a scar on your foot? I heard mummy’s bites are poisonous.”

“So that’s why your boggart was a mummy?”

Lavender glared at them. 

“Well,” began Ron, “I think we all have something that scares us. I hate spiders because _some people_ thought it would be funny to turn my teddy bear into a spider when I was younger”.

The table all turned to Fred and George Weasely. 

Fred picked up his fork and pointed at everybody at the table like a disappointed professor, “Now look here. Every time something bad happens, you don't always have to assume it’s us.”

George nodded. “Yes. You shouldn’t assume the worst in people.”

“Well it was you right?” asked Lee Jordan.

Fred looked at him strangely. “Of course it was. What do you take us for?” 

Lee Jordan pat him approvingly on the back.

Parvati and Ron seemed to have started something because the next thing you know, everybody at the Gryffindor table started complaining about the Dementors and things they were afraid of. 

Harry left feeling better about himself. Throughout the meal, people seemed to be sympathizing with his fear for boggarts. Even when Malfoy yelled, “The dementors send their love, Potter,” he didn’t let that phase him.

Lavender, Parvati, Ron, Hermione, and Harry went towards the Gryffindor common room but when they reached the corridor that ended with the portrait of the Fat Lady, they found it jammed with students.

“Why isn’t anyone going in?”

“What’s happening?”

Parvati pulled on Lavender’s sleeve. “I think the portrait’s closed.”

Percy pushed his way through and started asking what happened. The crowd started making a path for him. He was making a big ruckus but when he got to the entranceway of the common room, he stopped. “Somebody get Professor Dumbledore. Quick.”

Dumbledore entered moments later and Harry finally got to see what made Percy stop so suddenly. 

Hermione made a noise of shock and grabbed Harry’s arm.

The Fat Lady wasn’t there and for good reason too. Her portrait had been vandalized. With pieces hanging off of where it had been slashed and lots of pieces missing completely. 

Lavender whispered not very quietly in Parvati’s ear, “Did Filch finally snap?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally found some inspiration. I'm gonna try to update weekly from now on every Sunday or Saturday and maybe extra days when I feel happy.


End file.
